Talk:George Wilson Bridges

Really Useful contribution

It might be worth mentioning that the Bridges family, who were corn factors among other things controlled and later owned the port of Mistley. One of their tenants was Goulding Constable, John Constable's father, In 1804 John Constable painted the family, with the 16 year old George standing at the left. The painting is now in the Tate, and their notes on it are excellent.

In Jamaica Bridges's Colonial Church union was not just anti-Methodist, but in 1831-2 stirred up serious violence against the far more numerous Baptists, especially in Bridges's own parish of St Ann, and not just the missionaries, but their churches and their members, who were largely slaves, and who believed wrongly that emancipation was already in force, rather than the 'apprenticeship' actually imposed after 1833 instead. Bridges seems to have left Jamaica in 1837 (see D.A Dunkley). But he is still probably the only early photographer (in England at least) to have been depicted in a major work by a major painter.Delahays (talk) 09:06, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

It might also be worth mentioning that Bridges, and he was not alone, supplemented his Jamaican stipends, which were generous, by charging for the baptisms he performed of enslaved people. Dunkley suggests that this could boost his income to around £1,000 currency a year. His wife had been born in St Elizabeth, Jamaica, where her Brooks kin were long-establishedDelahays (talk) 09:51, 13 October 2014 (UTC)Delahays (talk) 11:08, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm not quite clear how this came about, but the Manchester parish registers for 1817 appear to show that Bridges took up his appointment in Manchester parish late in 1817, and before that the cleric in charge was called Trew, who can later be found in St Thomas in the East. However, the returns of baptisms of enslaved persons to the Governor, the Duke of Manchester in 1817, which were being submitted around October 1817, show that at that time the Rector of Manchester was WW Hill. Bridges submitted one of them as Rector of St Dorothy. Since according to his own "Outlines and Notes" of 1862, he left for Jamaica, with members of his wife's family, on borrowed money, in 1816, it seems likely that the post to which he was first appointed was that of Rector of St Dorothy. Later hostile comments on Bridges' claims in "A Voice from Jamaica" about statistics on Anglican marriages of enslaved persons also refer to his period as Rector of St Dorothy. If I can get firm dates for this, I will edit. Otherwise, it had better stay for the time being as talk.93.96.231.191 (talk) 10:14, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Hey 93.96.231.191 .... or can I call you "93"? This is brilliant and if we can find these paintings then it will transform this article. If you can add citations for where the information comes from then we can add even more. It seems to me that this guy was very clever, but by today's standards very un PC if not bad. But a very interesting guy. Do feel free to edit .... we can show you how to add paras etc (see above) and do think about getting an account is it means I can call you something besides "93.96.231.191". Cheers Victuallers (talk) 12:02, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

I think I can now be a little more precise about St Dorothy. Bridges' return of slave baptisms for St Dorothy of late October 1817 - in which he doesn't actually make the required return but gives one for the previous 10 years - indicates he had been in post at St Dorothy for five months, which suggests he took up residence in the parish in May or early June 1817. Before that date there doesn't seem to be an easy way of determining whether he was in post anywhere on the island as a curate. It's possible that until then he had been living on the support of his wife's relations, or that they were lobbying the Governor for a clerical appointment for him. Either way, there seems to be no evidence for the claim that he had gone to Jamaica at the invitation of the Governor, and he doesn't claim this in his late partial autobiography. In my view, this claim should be dropped. At the time there was no Bishop of Jamaica, and the Church of England in the island came under the Bishop of London, but local appointments were done through the Governor, as far as I can see, he being the King's representative on the island, and the Act of Supremacy being in force. But if the Governor appoints you, it doesn't mean that he recruited you from across the Atlantic, necessarily.Delahays (talk) 12:21, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

Nice work. Feel free to make changes but I hope "no evidence" doesn't exclude a book saying it is true. I would like to think that all the stuff here had some basis in text (somewhere) if not in fact. Still errors happen, but you need to avoid using primary sources if secondary ones exist. Again nice work. I thought he was boring until I unpacked the full detail of his life - and now we have a pic of him and photos by him. Victuallers (talk) 13:36, 5 January 2015 (UTC)

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